A fleet of 9 Union ironclads under the command of Samuel Dupont sailed into Charleston Harbor and attacked Fort Moultrie and Fort Sumter. Sumter is visibly damaged but the Confederate batteries from the shore heavily damage the 9 ironclads and they are forced to withdraw. Naval occupation of the harbor is ruled out.

A fire in the Philadelphia ship-yard accidently destroys a number of ships used during the Civil War

At 5,120 tons, the New Ironsides was the largest of the ocean-going ironclad vessels built at the start of the Civil War. Work began on the U. S. Navy ship at the Philadelphia yard in late 1861. She was commissioned in August, 1862 and began to participate in federal action early in 1863 with an attack on Fort Sumter.

The New Ironsides place in history was assured when the Confederate Navy twice attacked the boat with torpedoes from the CSS David, a cigar-shaped, underwater vessel.